


A Walk Through the Park

by AtoTheBean



Series: A Bleary, Hopeful Universe [4]
Category: Pinto - Fandom, Star Trek RPF
Genre: Bleary, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-18
Updated: 2015-04-18
Packaged: 2018-03-23 11:51:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3767104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AtoTheBean/pseuds/AtoTheBean
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a deleted scene between the Chapters 21 and 22 of "A Bleary Hopeful Shade of Blue."  So, basically after the OUT interview, when they are still walking in New York and decide to head to Central Park.  </p><p>I liked elements of it, but in the final analysis, it seemed to mess with the flow and energy of the story.  Also, Zach's reaction made me sad (why do characters sometimes say things I have no intention of them saying?).  (I feel like I'm narrating some extra in a dvd release).  I'm hoping to write one shots a bit later, but I thought I could at least get things rolling with this.</p><p>And the statue is real...you should google it.  Totally adorable.  And that picture is now on the mantle of their house in LA.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Walk Through the Park

Day 117, 5:00 p.m.

Zach was back in Tour Guide mode, starting in on stories of cast members for Glass Menagerie having picnics in the park. And maybe it was Zach’s contagious enthusiasm, directed not only at the city but at Chris himself, as if it were _vitally_ important that Chris understood the draw — could see what Zach loved about New York. Maybe it was the fact that the interview was over and they were both so giddy that anything — mediocre used book stores, marquees for plays he had no particular interest in and exotic trees — seemed absolutely magical. But Chris just wanted to wrap his arms around Zach, fling an arm over his shoulder as they walked, slip a thumb through his belt loop — just _touch_ him. And he still couldn’t. It felt terribly unfair. He’d been brave; he’d told the world. It felt like he _should_ get to kiss Zach on a street corner now, or in front of a fountain. But the world still didn’t know. They had weeks of limbo left, and Chris suddenly realized that hiding his feelings in public was going to be even harder now.

“You’re quiet all of a sudden.”

Chris looked up, startled out of his reverie. He gave Zach a smile and shoved his hands deeper into his pockets, trying to avoid temptation. “I’m fine. I’m enjoying the tour.”

Zach scrutinized him for a moment, tilting his head slightly. And then he leaned closer. “Too much time with people?” he asked, knowingly.

Chris huffed a laugh and looked at his feet. “I still have a bit of time before I turn into a grumpy pumpkin. But maybe we can head back to the hotel fairly soon.” Of course, it wasn’t because he was feeling antisocial in the usual way.

“Hmmm,” Zach considered him for a moment. “There’s something I’d like to show you, a bit further up.”

“You got it.”

Twenty minutes later they rounded a bend to see children climbing over figures of bronze. Chris gave Zach a quizzical look.

“What, you don’t recognize your friends?”

Chris got closer and then barked a laugh. “Nathan, look! It’s Alice! The girl we read about last week. And here’s the White Rabbit and the Mad Hatter. Oh, god, this is so _great_!”

Zach was grinning. “I thought you’d like it. When you pulled out the Lewis Carroll, I knew I had to show you. And Nathan.”

They got Nathan out of the snuggly and Chris carried him over to the statue of Alice sitting atop a mushroom. “Look, Nathan. ‘Curiouser and curiouser.’” He sat Nathan upon one of the smaller toadstools and knelt beside him so Zach could get a picture. The detail was fantastic, and Nathan patted the smooth metal, reaching for the doormouse. Zach just kept taking pictures. Chris was struck again by how happy he looked. And how sexy, even with the unfastened straps of the snuggly dangling from his chest. Zach caught him looking and gave him a smile before snapping another picture with his phone. Before long, though, Nathan had seen enough and started squirming away from the boisterous children.

“He’s getting overstimulated,” Chris said as he brought Nathan back and helped Zach strap him into the snuggly again.

“He takes after you,” Zach said. And even though it was impossible,it still felt true.

“Come over here,” Chris said, leading Zach down a path that moved away from the manicured lawns and into a brushy, wooded fringe area.

“The hotel is that way.” Zach pointed in the opposite direction.

“Yeah, but I’m really fascinated with these… _Hydrangea macrophylla_ 'Coerulea',” Chris said, reading the botanical name off the brass label and taking a smaller path through the thicket, to the center, where the view was obscured all around them.

“Chris, what are yo—” Zach made a startled noise into Chris’ sudden kiss. Chris threaded fingers into the hair at the nape of his neck and held him gently in place as Zach gasped and then returned the kiss. The noises of children playing faded as Chris felt Zach’s breath against his cheek, heard him groan quietly, felt his hand upon his back.

“I’ve wanted to do that for hours,” Chris whispered.

Zach huffed a laugh.

“At every street corner, and statue, and every time you pointed out a theater you’d been in.”

“In public?”

“Yeah. It’s been driving me crazy. I’m so happy, I keep forgetting we’re still not out. I _feel_ like we are, but—”

“Two more weeks.”

“I may not make it,” he said, kissing Zach again.

“Hmm. Well, we can go kiss in the middle of Central Park right now, but it would ruin all our schemes to be caught out like that.”

Chris took a resigned breath. They’d planned things this way for a reason. The fact that he was hiding in the middle of a shrubbery like a ridiculous teenager didn’t change any of that clever strategy.

Zach started chuckling, and Chris raised an eyebrow.

“I was afraid when you got so quiet that maybe you were regretting the interview. Buyer’s remorse or something.”

“No. Never,” he said, kissing him again. “I just regret it wasn’t on live television so we’d be out already. The lag is going to drive me crazy.”

“Well, maybe we should go back to the hotel now so we don’t tempt fate.” There was humor in Zach’s eyes. And heat.

Chris kissed him one last time, looking forward to the time when they could do this in the open. “Lead the way.”


End file.
